A video conference bridge receives video streams from multiple endpoints and converges the video stream into a single feed. The video conference bridge sends the single feed to the multiple endpoints. A video conference bridge may also be referred to as a multipoint control unit or a multipoint conferencing unit (MCU). The endpoints are video conferencing devices (e.g. personal computer including monitor and camera).
The various endpoints may have varying capabilities. The video conference bridge may include hardware and/or software capable of transcoding the received video into a single output that all of the endpoints are capable of displaying. However, this requires high processing and other hardware resources. In addition, recent developments in video technologies have resulted in an increasing number of video stream formats. Accordingly, video conference bridges are cost prohibitive for many users.